KUALA LUMPUR, 11 Feb 2009: The Public Complaints Bureau (PCB) would conduct a nationwide tour to expedite the process of solving complaints or problems.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Senator T Murugiah said during the nationwide clinic, “Klinik Rakyat,” the PCB delegation would also encompass officers from government agencies and ministries to provide solutions to pressing issues.

“The Prime Minister’s Department through PCB will carry out the exercise to enable the public to put forward their displeasure in services rendered, any wrong doings or express any dissatisfaction,” he told reporters after making his maiden visit to the Federal Territory PCB here today.

Murugiah said a calendar for the “Klinik” was being prepared and expected to be ready by next month and once ready, the dates would be published.

“PCB, accompanied by me or Tan Sri Bernard Dompok (Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department) will go nationwide to conduct such clinics,” he said.

He added that the tour was also to inform the public of the functions undertaken by PCB to assist the public, because though the bureau was formed in 1971, the public was still not aware of its existence.

“May be because PCB does not have direct authority to solve problems, the public do not bother to forward their complaints. Currently, only issues involving the Indian community is being referred to the bureau but we do not want only the problems of one race to be solved but rather all the races in the country,” he said.

Murugiah said the Prime Minister’s Department was awaiting a cabinet approval to enable the PCB to act as a tribunal to solve outstanding cases and complaints from the public.

“Some government departments and ministries claim that PCB did not have any authority to direct them, creating a difficult situation when trying to solve problems faced by the public,” he said.

“Without an endorsement from the cabinet, PCB will just be another government agency that cannot act or be effective in trying to solve problems faced by the public and defeat the objective of setting up the PCB.

“It will be useless to receive four or five cases a month when we have 271 officers throughout the country,” he said.

Through a new initiative over the past three months, 81% or 5,954 of the 7,351 outstanding cases in PCB had been solved, he said.

“PCB normally calls both the involved parties to the PCB office in an effort to try and find a solution to their problems,” said Murugiah. — Bernama